Thundercats Multiverse
by RoariCat
Summary: Thundercats, done over from the beginning. A more complete explanation inside. This begins on Thundera, when Lion-O was still a child. All the Thundercats will feature.
1. A Transaction of Friendship

**Thundercats:**_(Multiverse)  
_Prologue: A Transaction of Friendship  
By _RoariCat _

_A/N: Hi folks! This is my first ever Thundercats fic! YAY! Okay, enough pathetic chirpiness. I'm rewriting it from the beginning because I'm afraid to try to fit it all in to the timeline without making rotten mistakes. At the moment, the timeline is before old Thundera was destroyed, and Lion-O is still a child. All the 'cats from the series will feature._

"Tag!" the slender thundercub flicked his twin sister Wilykit's shoulder with the tips of his fingers. His hair, normally naturally spiky and upright, flattened against his head and dampened with sweat as he sped nimbly around the furious girl and out of harm's way.  
Wilykat's paws slapped on the stone floor, stinging a little with each passing step. The third player, the heir to the Thunderian throne, dashed to the other side of Wilykit, careful not to let her pass the responsibilities of being 'it' as he did so. It wasn't often Lord Lion-O had any friends over, so the flame-maned boy was desperate to enjoy every second of every game the twins and he managed to play together. They seemed to be warming to him a little, maybe they would come over more often after today.  
Wilykit frowned, running her claws through sweat-dampened red hair. She could seek revenge on her brother, or go for the snivelling brat Lion-O. She glanced between them, and knew she had to go for his royal highness. She could definitely catch him, whereas Wilykat was... well, wily.  
Kit charged Lion-O, glaring daggers at Kat as she passed him. Stretching her legs as far as they would go, Kit sprinted down the hall with a look of sheer determination etched across her face. Her fingers curled into a fist, but before she could deliver it to Lion-O the door to the chamber slid open with an electronic sigh.  
"Snarf!" Lion-O's nanny, a Snarf, poked his head through the gap. "Lion-O," the small animal began, his voice scratchy and highly pitched. "Your father wants to talk to you!" He waited expectantly, ignoring the panting twins who gravitated slowly towards one another. Lion-O sighed, looking sadly at Wilykit and Kat as he stepped forward.  
"Do I have to right now?" Lion-O asked, a pout forming.  
"Yes!" Snarf nodded vehemently, although he was likely exaggerating.  
"I'm sorry," the young prince glanced woefully at each twin, seemingly missing the matched look of imperial disgust emblazoned across their paired faces.  
As soon as Snarf and Lion-O were gone, the silence was broken by Wilykit.  
"Can you _believe _that kid?" she demanded, emphasising that she thought of Lion-O as an unsophisticated child.  
"At last," groaned Kat, almost simultaneously.  
"_'Snarf, don't be silly kittens, snarf!'_" Wilykit impersonated the matron at the orphanage. "_'Of course you want to play with Lion-O'_".  
"I'm glad that brat's too important to play with us for long." Kat wiped his brow with his hand, and then his hand on his tunic. "He can't even run right."  
"How do we get out of here?" Wilykit looked around. There were three doors, one was eliminated because Snarf had taken Lion-O through it.  
It was soon uncovered that the second was locked, and so the third was their only exit. The twins walked together in an amicable silence, looking around at the obvious riches in the palace. It wasn't lavishly decorated, but the expensive and up-to-date technology was sign enough of the wealth the place held.  
The slab-stones on the ground indicated that they were already on the ground level, so Wilykat had suggested they ignore all the staircases during their escape.  
Both cubs hated being summoned to play with Lord Lion-O. They thought him to be a whiney, pathetic excuse for a thunderian who definitely didn't deserve his inherited fortunes and status.  
Only the prospect of getting away from the Snarfs at the orphanage would drive them into Lion-O's house.

Lion-O edged moodily into the room, eyes fixed with childish determination on his boots. How could his father demand to see him right this very minute? Wilykit and Kat usually had an excuse not to come over, and for once they had made it. He desperately wanted them to like him.  
"Son," Lord Claudis sat in a steely silver throne, his imposing posture crumpling as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees to speak to Lion-O.  
"Yeah," Lion-O mumbled, glancing up without turning his head. "Am I in trouble?"  
"Of course not." A pause. "You're never any trouble."  
Often, in fact, Claudis wondered why his son wasn't more mischievous. The boy seemed downright shy, even introverted. His parents were always busy, of course - Lion-O was privately educated and spent most of his time with Snarf.  
"I heard you had some friends over," The Lord began, smiling. It was good to know there were other children around.  
"Yeah." Lion-O repeated glumly. "I don't think they like me."   
"Don't be silly," there was barely a split second's silence before Claudis disregarded Lion-O's claim. "I want you to invite them to the Festival of Light, free of charge of course. You can all have as many turns at anything you like. Go right after them and try to catch them at the gates. If they're already gone, I'm sure Snarf won't mind running to the orphanage."  
Lion-O listened to the outburst, a slow smile spreading across his face as each word registered. The Festival! Of course! Wilykit and Kat had probably never even been to the Festival of Light, and tickets had run out months ago.  
"Can I really?" Lion-O bobbed on the balls of his feet, excitement replacing his depression.  
"Yes! Run along now!" Claudis shook his head, chuckling with Snarf as Lion-O skidded out of the electric door before it had even opened completely.  
"He'll be alright." Snarf said softly, hoping to reassure his friend and employer. The little creature knew how much Lord Claudis worried about Lion-O.  
"I hope so, Snarf."

"WAIT! WAAAAAAAAAAIT!"   
The twins glanced back simultaneously, then sighed in unison as they recognized the wild red mane bobbing towards them from the house.  
"Stupid gate." spat Wilykat bitterly. Why couldn't it have opened as it was supposed to?  
"Wait!" Lion-O reiterated, even though it was clear they had stopped. He stood for a moment, catching his breath. "I have to talk to you guys," he said finally, taking a tone of importance.  
"Can you get this gate to open?" Kit interrupted rudely, folding her arms - her lips forming a thin line.  
"Yeah, yeah I can," Lion-O answered, a little distracted. "I want to invite you both to the Festival. You know. Of Light."  
"We don't have tickets." Wilykat threw his sister a sideways glance. They'd been trying to sneak into that festival ever since they'd learned the lock combinations on the orphanage doors.  
"You don't need them if you accept my invitation..." Lion-O explained, sure that they ought to have known that.  
"Well..." Neither particularly wanted to spend more time with Lion-O, but both were dying to go to the festival. It was a yearly celebration of Thunderian summer - and it marked the time when darkness would only come for five short hours a night. It also marked the rise in curtain sales. It was at different dates all over Thundera, but in the hemisphere they were in it was the following Friday. There were Thunderians who travelled all over the globe to celebrate the festival more than once.  
"Alright," the twins agreed in unison, with curt nods.  
"We'll come to the gate next Friday night, you better be here to let us in!" Wilykat said, confirming the arrangement silently with Wilykit.  
"And can you get this freakin' gate to open?" Kit kicked it, ignoring the pain coursing through her toes.  
"Uh, yeah. Right, wait here and I'll go get the gatekeeper to open it." Lion-O jogged up the path, turning to wave to his newly bribed friends when he reached halfway.  
"Moron." Wilykat was never one to hide his feelings.


	2. The Festival of Light

**Thundercats:**_(Multiverse)  
_Part 1: The Festival of Light  
By _RoariCat_

"You know," Wilykit supposed as she dragged a metal comb through her auburn mane, deliberately slicking the black center-stripe into place. "It's not particularly wily to get in with an invitation."  
"Well it's not really wily getting caught every year either." retorted Wilykat, still in slight disbelief that his sister could spend so long hogging the mirror.  
"We still have to spend the whole night with his Royal Highness." Kit finally moved away from the mirror, smoothing her hair for the last time.  
"We can ditch him in there someplace." Kat dismissed her with a flick of his hand, checking his own appearance quickly. Most of the matron snarfs had agreed they'd never seen the wily twins as clean before in their lives. Pretty much all of them also agreed that they would come home unrecognisable under dirt.  
"I guess it's time to go," Wilykit prompted from the door. "Come on."  
"Yeah yeah," Kat sniffed primly. "Wouldn't want to keep his lordship waiting."

Waiting was all Lion-O had been doing. Each day had come and gone with agonizing slowness, it was as though someone was turning all the clocks back five minutes for every two that passed by.  
Snarf couldn't even interest the boy in any games, and that Friday had dragged all the toys out of the cupboard - leaving him with a ridiculous mess and Lion-O staring out the window, oblivious to it.  
"Where are they?" he sighed for the millionth time. Snarf had given up answering, instead he picked lethargically at the board games and dolls. He intended to clear them up, but Lion-O's impatience and frustration was infectious.  
"Look!" Lion-O pointed. A stream of locals had formed a queue at the gates, which weren't yet open.  
"Snarf, do you think the cubs are out there somewhere?" Snarf asked, his nose twitching as he glanced over Lion-O's shoulder.  
Lion-O didn't need another hint, he hopped through the scattered obstacles on the floor and immediately bounded out towards the gate.

Once there, it was apparent the kittens hadn't made it to the front of the line. The gate keepers were slowly checking each ticket, and plenty of silly hopefuls had turned up without one.  
"Best stand over there." one said gruffly to Lion-O. "In case they get rough."  
Obediently, Lion-O stood a little behind the open gate - peering through the vintage bars, his fingers wrapped around them. Fifteen minutes came and went before he spotted the familiar faces in the crowd. Wilykit and Kat were playing some sort of skipping game, to keep themselves amused as the queue went on. Every few seconds, one of their heads bobbed above the height of the other attendees.  
"Wilykat!" called Lion-O, jumping up on to the gate and waving brightly. "Kit!"  
Wilykit appeared and stayed, wobbling around a little. She waved back, but was soon distracted as Wilykat lost control beneath her. They snaked around in the crowd together, inspiring cries of unrepeatable words wherever they ended up, before sinking below Lion-O's line of vision.  
"Hurry up!" Lion-O grinned as they pushed their way through the crowd, disregarding whatever politeness had prevented them from doing so before. "This is going to be _great!"_

Meanwhile...  
Jaga, advisor in chief and protector of Lord Claudis, was not in attendance of the festivities. He was in a catacomb, far below the palace - staring at a short, blunt sword. The room was barren, only a pedastal in the center disturbed the flatness of the decor. On top sat the Sword of Omens.  
Jaga was the only ThunderCat left. There had been little need for the elite of Thundera to band together, at the end of their last battle in their final war - the Thundercats had agreed to split their separate ways and find new destinies. Even now the memories brought a wave of fresh sadness with them, Jaga missed each and every one of his comrades. He wondered if any of them were still alive - dare he try to call them now?   
"Sword of Omens," he said hoarsely. "Give me sight beyond sight."  
Nothing happened. It was unusual, for although Claudis' father had been the foremost user of the Sword, it had once obeyed Jaga as well. The elder frowned, resisting the urge to scratch his head. Trouble was brewing, for the first time in years - but what source of evil could cause the Sword of Omens to lose it's life?  
The Eye of Thundera remained dark, the power that surrounded it - the aura that every honourable thundercat could feel in it's presence - now gone. It was as being present in a tomb, the Eye of Thundera was rotting in a sword-shaped coffin.  
"How can this be?" Jaga spoke aloud, as though expecting an answer from the ancients in return. Surely the Eye hadn't died after all these years? Unless... no, it couldn't possibly be. The ghost stories Jaga had heard as a child - they couldn't possibly be true.  
Nevertheless, he dropped the sword back into place and fled to his chambers. He had to find his old books, had to reread the legend.  
After half an hour of turning relentless pages and scanning every word in the ancient language, Jaga finally uncovered what he was looking for.  
"_And on the eve of light a darkness will fall; hidden from all eyes; blinding the all seeing; destroying all life..._" It went on to describe in lilting verse the horrors and atrocities likely to befall Thundera. Something was waking up. It was a matter of severe urgency, but not even Lord Claudis knew of the confirmed existence of the Sword of Omens.  
There was tale of another eye, hidden many miles below the soils of Thundera. It was still just a story, and a long shot - but Jaga had a feeling that it would be his only chance. A sudden, hacking attack of coughing quickly reminded him that he was far too old to pursue it himself. With the Sword of Omens rendered useless, he would need to form another plan to look for this lost artefact. This year he would be giving the festival a miss.

"Wow!"   
All three cubs stopped to watch a talented, and rather sweaty fire-eater swallow and flaming sword.  
"I wonder if he burns his tongue!" Wilykat was mesmerized as the sword was removed, still burning.  
"Don't be silly," Wilykit admonished. "He must have a tongue-protector on." She added knowledgably, ambling on without the boys.  
"Let's look this time," she heard Lion-O say. "We'll see if he has a tongue-protector or not."  
Kit rolled her eyes. _Boys. _She was loathe to discover that she and Wilykat hadn't managed to ditch Lion-O at all, even after they sent him the wrong way in the Funhouse. Somehow, the little prince had found them not long after they had gotten away.  
Soon she was beyond all the candy stalls and games, and in to an arena of stages. Each stage had a different competition behind held on it, the first she passed was the strong-cat test. Hugely muscled thunderians were trying to lift weights, while the presenter - a wiry looking Ocelot - attempted at all costs to distract them verbally. It seemed rather silly to Wilykit.  
Her eyes roved around the area, passing over most of the stands until she spotted the beauty pageant at the end. It didn't take her long to cross the distance, and lean on the fence dreamily. She wished that one day she might win this competition, but for now was content to watch. Looking along the line of thunderian girls, the one at the end stood out the most.  
She was a cheetah, tall and slender with spots sprinkled over her back, arms and legs. While the others oohed and aahed at the portly tabby mongrel of a host, she stood with her arms folded and her mouth firmly closed. Most of the time, she refused to even grace the others with a look.  
Wilykit offered the cheetah a wide smile, and was delighted when she caught the contestant's eye and received a wink and a mocking eye-roll in response. Apparently, the woman wasn't impressed by the proceedings.  
"How about you, spots?" the host approached. Clearly, he had been asking the cheetah a question. It seemed that both she and Wilykit had missed it.  
"You promised I wouldn't have to do this." was the icy response from the woman.  
"Come on, Cheetara. You're here now, might as well enjoy it."  
When it was obvious that the wheedling was going nowhere, the host dropped the case and named the bubbly blonde lioness in the middle as the winner.  
There was a short burst of applause, and a few people surged forwards to congratulate the melodramatic girl. When her view had finally cleared again, Wilykit couldn't see Cheetara anywhere.  
"Oh well," Kit huffed, scuffing the ground a bit with her toe.  
"Come on!" Lion-O's hand snatched at hers. "Wilykat's being chased by that fire-eater!"

To be continued ;). 


End file.
